GREVILLEA PUNICEA. SCARLET GREVILLEA. 
Class IV. T ETR AND RI A.— Order I. M O NO G YN I A. 
Natural Order, PROTEACEJE. 
This beautiful species, says Dr. Lindley, is very nearly related to G. ■serioea, with which it was confounded 
by Sir James Smith ; but from which it differs in the greater length of the pistillum, and the much longer 
beard which clothes the inside of each division of the calyx. We scarcely know a more desirable green- 
house plant. 
Mr Brown characterises it by the want of a mucro to the leaves ; a circumstance in which it would, 
therefore-, differ from G. sericea ; but we do not find any variation in this particular between the two plants. 
A branching shrub , with angular, hairy twigs. Leaves lanceolate, mucronate, recurved at the edges, 
silky beneath. Flowers downy outside ; the calyx clothed internally with a long white beard. Pistillum 
smooth. 
The entomologist boasts (says the author of the Wonders of the Vegetable Kingdom) that there is nothing 
analogous in the vegetable world to the metamorphosis of the butterfly; and, in poetic fervour, he resembles 
it to the emerging of the immortal spirit from its tabernacle of earthly clay, tut let truth and nature speak 
for themselves. Turn your eye, , to that Oriental poppy. It is just beginning to expand. The corolla 
is carefully folded up, and enclosed in a rough unvaried covering of green. Certainly in this state it is not 
particularly attractive. Wait, however, for a moment; the sun, even at this early hour, has absorbed the 
dews of night, and dried and warmed the mask of rough green which envelopes the head. Suddenly it opens, 
j and falls off. As the butterfly burst from its dull dry case in all the pride of perfection, so does this brilliant 
flower instantly display its rich brown stamens, and unfold its brilliant orange wings ; for such Linnseus ele- 
gantly terms the petals. In both the insect and flower, nature seems to have deviated from her usual slow 
gradations, as if impatient for, and glorying in, their charms. 
— . You have pointed out an elegant and interesting phenomenon, which I have not observed before? 
and whilst I have been listening to you, I have also thought how much there is in this flower corresponding 
with the nature of man. The root, like the infancy of the human plant, contains the whole of the future 
being ; but who can look at either, and form an estimate of their physical or moral beauty ? The gradual un- 
folding of the leaves resembles the progressive stages of education ; till at length the human plant stands 
forth in all the strength of his faculties, an intellectual and moral agent. Like the brilliant poppy, he is not 
the flower of a day. The seeds of piety to God, and benevolence to man, are ripened in his bosom, destined 
to germinate and blossom in a richer soil, the garden of immortality. 
Let us change the idea, and consider how the varieties in the characters of our friends and acquaintance 
assimilate to the different productions of the flower-garden. A rose may be considered as the vegetable pro- 
totype of some distinguished female, whose worth is far superior to that of gold or rubies. Encompassed 
by the trials of mortality, she heeds them not, for her hopes are fixed on heaven. She lives only to diffuse 
happiness, to perfect good works, to leave a rich memorial of her virtues. What a striking contrast to the 
Venus-catchfiy ? Dressed in a gay drapery, and flaunting her head to the luxuriant breeze, attracting the sum- 
mer-flies that skim around her, and blooming only for the vain and gay. Apt emblem of those careless 
daughters who live at ease apparently forgetful that they are reasonable beings, accountable for their conduct 
while in this probationary state, and formed for an endless progression in perfection and felicity. What a 
lovely picture of maternal tenderness, of a mother surrounded with her children, is afforded by the hen 
and chicken daisy. In the night-blowing stock, which emits its perfume only in the gloom of evening or 
the darkness of the night, do we not recognize that generous attachment which sheds around us the pure 
fragrance of affection, when the sun of prosperity is succeeded by the night of adversity? How beautiful is 
that Austrian brier ; its richly variegated petals are embosomed in a cluster of verdant leaves. Reach not 
your hand to pluck it to your bosom, admire it only at a distance, regard not its inviting appearance, for it 
will wound you with invisible thorns ; it will smile upon you, and pierce you to the quick. Look at that 
gumcistus : its blossoms are spread forth with an air of openness, and apparently, it stands firmly on its stem, 
promising a friendship of constancy and frankness. Alas ! it is the emblem of fickleness ; the first cold 
breeze dashes it to the ground : again and again, it opens its deceptive blossoms, to any who are ready to be 
deluded. How admirably does the mignonette designate a benevolent, modest, and unassuming individual, 
discoverable only by good works. Its odours fill the atmosphere around. The mrgemone, or prickly-poppy, 
is but too descriptive of many characters, of no use and little beauty. Behold yourself, — , in the fragrant 
woodbine. Its scent may be compared to a fountain of affection, always flowing, always full. It is not the 
